Emma Watson on handling stress

Emma Watson learned how to handle stress thanks to her spell at university.

The 23-year-old actress began studying for an English degree at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2009. She thoroughly enjoyed her first year, but by her third semester she felt “very unsettled and lost”. While it wasn’t a fun period, it taught her valuable life lessons.

“Now I really know how to take care of myself, how to be alone, how to deal with stress. If I hadn’t been through that time, I wouldn’t have got there. I never knew I had limits. You make good friends and you make bad friends, and you have to figure it all out,” she told Wonderland Magazine. “You realize you can’t do everything. I really did think I could do it all – commute back to the UK for [Harry] Potter filming and press, then go to Brown for finals, and keep up with my friends and family. You can’t do, by the way. You do have to take breaks. It’s how I became interested in meditation and yoga. I developed bedtime rituals.”

Before she turns in for the night Emma always makes herself a hot water bottle. She knows many will laugh at her, but it is her way of ensuring she is looking after her body.

She was also eager to dispel some myths about her. She knows many view her as a ‘good girl’, but she insists she knows how to have a good time. The problem is she finds some social situations difficult as her public persona is so different to her real personality.

“I feel like I’ve been given a lot of credit where it isn’t due that I don’t like to party. The truth is that I’m genuinely a shy, socially awkward, introverted person. At a big party, I’m like Bambi in the headlights. It’s too much stimulation for me, which is why I end up going to the bathroom! I need time outs… I get anxious. I’m terrible at small talk and I have a ridiculously short attention span,” she said.

“I feel a pressure when I’m meeting new people because I’m aware of their expectations. That makes socializing difficult.”

Emma famously cut her hair when she had finished filming the Harry Potter movies, in which she portrayed Hermione Granger. She was contracted not to change her tresses for the duration of the franchise and even though her hair is now long again, she loved experimenting.

“I miss it so much. The minute I get pregnant, the first thing I’m going to do is cut my hair off because I know I won’t be working for a time. If I wasn’t an actress, I’d keep it that way,” she said.